Tatarstan’s UVT Aero is customer of four Tu-214 planes, a source says

UVT Aero wanted to switch to the use Russian planes a long time ago

Tatarstan airline UVT Aero became a customer of four Tu-214 planes. Realnoe Vremya’s sources talk about this.

Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov said about the deal without detail during his address to the State Council on 20 October:

“The modernisation of the Kazan aviation plant goes on. The enterprise has the task of starting the mass production of civil Tu-214 planes — up to 20 a year. A contract for four planes has already been signed with a republican customer.”

This topic was also raised at a meeting of the republican parliament. Deputy Ilshat Aminov asked when a federal customer of the Tu-214 engineering programme would appear because the republic constantly rescued it. The Tatarstan minister of economy didn’t say when the planes would be delivered and who would receive it.

It should be reminded that UVT Aero performs regular passenger flights with eight Canadian Bombardier planes. Several years ago the company planned to update the fleet by buying foreign planes but didn’t manage to. Later, the airline’s director Pyotr Trubayev claimed that in the future the company could switch to the use of Russian planes, “moreover, the Tu-214 is still made in Kazan.”

Russian airlines will start receiving Tu-214 planes in 2024

Tatarstan Minister of Industry and Trade Oleg Korobchenko said in 2023-2030, the aviation plant is to make 115 Tu-214 planes: three in 2023, seven in 2024, 10 in 2025, 15 in 2026, 20 in 2027-2030 during parliamentary hearings in the Federation Council.

In April, Rostec’s CEO Sergey Chemezov said that Russian airlines would start receiving Tu-214 planes in 2024.

The Kazan Gorbunov Aviation Plant (a branch of Tupolev) used to make a limited amount of Tu-214 planes — 2-3 planes a year at best. As Realnoe Vremya found out as early as in spring, the enterprise started to prepare to build civil aviation equipment on a large scale.

The cost of one Tu-214 is estimated to be over 10 billion rubles depending on modification, but the final price will be known after the leasing operator is known. The Kazan aviation plant already makes 20 Tu-214 planes. Airplanes made in the Tatarstan capital are to replace foreign Boeings and Airbuses.

Aeroflot and the United Aircraft Engineering Corporation signed an agreement as early as in September to buy Russian 339 planes, including 40 Tu-214 produced at the Gorbunov Plant in Kazan. The sum of the agreement surpassed a trillion rubles, which is an absolute record, Russian Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov noted then.